For exiled Chaldeans, Iraq war is far from finished

Noori Barka, Ph.D, President of the Chaldean American Institute, discusses Chaldeans in San Diego on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War during a visit to St. Peters Chaldean Catholic Cathedral.
— Howard Lipin

Noori Barka, Ph.D, President of the Chaldean American Institute, discusses Chaldeans in San Diego on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War during a visit to St. Peters Chaldean Catholic Cathedral.
— Howard Lipin

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At the downtown El Cajon offices of Chaldean-Middle Eastern Social Services last week, the hallways and meeting rooms were packed with families in limbo. A volunteer translator who asked to share only his first name, Ayman, said he was a lawyer in Iraq. He’s been in the U.S. for 10 months and he’s still looking for a job. He has given up hope of finding equivalent work but said he may take paralegal courses.

But he and others said they’re confident knowing the U.S. is a country with rules. Follow those rules, work hard, get ahead. There’s a transparent system here, and that’s worth a lot.

Everywhere they go, these newcomers stumble across reasons to hope things will improve for them: a cousin’s college graduation here, a parent’s stable job there. The tens of thousands who came before them, who run markets and doctor’s offices, are more evidence.

Look at the diners at Nahrain, feasting on red snapper and tilapia. This is not the tilapia used as generic filler for fishsticks and other processed abominations. This fish is roasted whole, its flesh white as ivory, its crisp, caramelized skin the color of honey or a Mesopotamian sunrise.